A parasite is an organism that lives off other organisms, such as animals or humans. They travel throughout our bodies, live off the food we eat, and leave their waste behind. When they live inside us, they feed off our metabolic processes and drain our inner resources, debilitating us.

Parasites infect more than 2 billion people worldwide.

Persistent skin problems, digestive difficulties, constipation and a wide range of other complaints are linked to parasites. In some cases, parasites kill. In 1993, an outbreak of cryptosporidium in the water supply in Milwaukee, WI, sickened over 400,000 people, causing watery diarrhea and other digestive symptoms.

Over 100 people died from that incident.

The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) in Atlanta estimates that 76 million people pick up parasites from food every year in the United States, and by the year 2025 scientists estimate that half of the world’s population will be infested with some type of parasitic infection.

Parasites are more common in North America than ever before. Parasites spread because of global travel, pollution, increased crowding of children together in day care centers, military personnel returning from infested areas, household pets, overuse of antibiotics and other drugs, infected food & water, exposure to multiple romantic partners, and infected community swimming pools.

A common type of parasitic worm found in digestive systems of North Americans, pinworms are called nematodes, or roundworms. They dwell in the upper portions of our large intestines and appendix and are easily transmitted through direct contact with pinworm eggs found on contaminated furniture, bedclothes or doorknobs.

According to Ann Louise Gittleman, PhD, CNS, author of Guess What Came to Dinner, “These masked marauders mimic other diseases, so they are often misdiagnosed. Without proper detection and treatment, parasites can linger in the body wreaking havoc for up to 30 years.”